Audition as the person you will become, not a fake

Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

1. 2:12

   the things. Tell me this story. First of all, first of all, it's not fake it till you make it. When I hear people say fake it till you make it, they say that because it rhymes and it's easy to say. But it also implies lying, which I just think is the worst, especially for anyone who's an independent contractor or who's an entrepreneur or who's ever had to sell anything to anyone. Everything sounds great until someone lies to your face. So I've always aligned myself with being future me. That's it. I'm not faking anything. I know to my core, the person I'm going to show you right now is the person I'm going to become 12 to 24 months from now. I've written it down, I've written it out, and I will manifest it. And when I do it that way, maybe I don't become the exact person I thought I was going to be, but I become some alternate reality

2. 3:02

   version of that person. So in 2010, there was an open casting call for the New York version of a TV show called Million Dollar Listing, and Bravo was going to start franchising it. And they wanted to do it in New York, and they were looking for the best, brightest, hungriest real estate agents under the age of 30 at that time. And I had been in the business for 18 months. I got my license the day Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy because I needed to pay my rent and I was acting in the city and I had no money and I didn't want to move home. And so a friend said, get your real estate license. You're going to memorize information. You're going to play Yes And improv games on the street with new clients every day. All you have to do is rent apartments. You get a small percentage of your commission and then you can pay your bills. I had to make $2,000 a month. That is the

3. 3:44

   whole reason I got into real estate was to make $2,000 a month. And I saw this casting call come through and I'd always wanted to act. That was my, that was my goal. That's why I came to New York in the first place. And so I went and 3000 agents plus minus showed up to an open casting call at the Hudson hotel in times square. And I didn't hear anything for a couple of months. And then they called back and said, we whittled it down to whatever it was, 15 or 1600. And then somehow through all that process over the course of 2010, I made it down to they were going to follow around 16 of us to find three. And so they were going to follow us for half a day. If I show them what my life is like right now from my tiny little studio apartment and I take them on the subway, I'm not getting on a TV show called Million Dollar Listing. And so I wrote down, if Ryan was on Million Dollar

4. 4:35

   listing, who would he be? If I'm the casting director, who do I want to cast? I probably don't take the subway. If I'm one of the best, I probably get driven or I drive. Borrowed a Range Rover from a guy I worked with. And then I coordinated some different listings that I could bring them to. And I was like, I'm going to have you meet me at the gym. I had them meet me at 5 a.m. because I also knew there was a little psychology to the process where if I could tire them out, right, they would just be so exhausted with me that they would say, well, I don't know, He was just great.

5. 5:04

   And so they're from LA. So they were three hours behind and they were here. I had them meet me at 5 a.m. So in their brain, it was 2 a.m. They're all exhausted. I'm in there, I'm boxing with my shirt off, whatever. Then I go into my apartment and I take off all my clothes and I just take a shower. And they didn't know what to do. I was like, you're not gonna do anything with this. You're not gonna air it.

6. 5:23

   But I need them to know that I would have no filter and I would say whatever's on my mind and I would do anything I felt like at all times. And so I just took a shower and they just like, they didn't know what to do. I'm like, what is this guy doing? I also knew that Ryan a year from now is gonna be a lot busier than Ryan is today.